What can I say...Well I was bothered about not being able to get a warm-up in but, I am a swimmer by nature so things just kinda worked out on there own I guess. The first 150-200 yards were all weeds all the way to the top of the water. I started in about waste deep water and some people started on shore. There were quite a few on shore that jumped the gun and started early I noticed but oh well :P. Once I started going I had to fight through all the vegetation like everyone else was doing I'm sure. It was getting in your' face/hands/ankles you name it, it was there. After that though I didn't notice it anymore. I must have gotten ahead of the majority of people right away because I really didn't bump and slug with anyone so to speak. I guess they had to jump in and untangle one woman because she got all hung up in the weeds in the water. She finished though! Otherwise I found a pair of feet to draft on for a while then they started going faster than I wanted too so I let them go. I think my swim in general went excellent. I had some issues sighting(just need to do more of it) I kept pulling to the right about every 10 strokes or so. Had to correct myself several times which was frustrating to me but overall I think it went very well.

Sight a little bit more. Otherwise I think it was one of my best swims yet. I got into an excellent pace and breathing was great.

This could have been a faster transition but I got there late and didn't get a good spot. Had to run quite a ways extra to make it to my bike and then over to the exit for bike out. Otherwise the wetsuit came off pretty decent and so did some of the weeds that were still stuck to me as well!

Get a better spot. Otherwise I think it went pretty decent.

Well I came out of T1 and got going up to speed fairly quick. Shoes went of way better this time compared to my Tri a couple weeks back. Once I got out onto the main road I started hammering it for a couple minutes then I saw my HR and backed off some. I was around 168 and knew I had to get that back down to 160 or below. I passed a woman fairly quickly that was part of a relay team and then I was alone until about 8-10 miles where I was passed by a guy. He asked me how many were ahead of us and I told him 3-4/ I wasn't sure. Well a minute or so later we saw the first place guy going the opposite way and he was about 4 minutes ahead of me at that time. Otherwise that was it and so I found out I was in third! Holy Cow! I had a good tailwind/crosswind going west but when we turned for the south loop it was all headwind and probably 12-15 mph it seemed. It wasn't nuts or anything so I just grinned and bared it knowing everyone else had to deal with it as well. The second lap of the course the wind had picked up a bit more and I could tell I needed to go a tad slower otherwise I would probably blow up on the run.(good thing too). I was only passed by two guys the entire time on the bike so I was in fourth place coming into T2.

Drink more! I found out this once I started the run. I got thirsty toward the end of the bike and negated getting refills for either of my bottles. I am just going to get another cage/saddle cages for my bike so I can carry 1-2 more bottles.

Almost forgot to get my feet ontop of my shoes! Otherwise I got off the bike and started running pretty good into T2. Again had to run quite a ways but no big deal in the long run. Sat down and put my socks/shoes on and decided to for go my running visor since it hurts my head on long runs. Grabbed an extra gel out of my race bag and took off out of T2.

Have my water bottle filled up and ready to go. I didn't have time to get it filled due to arriving to late.

Well I didn't blow up but I came very very close! I now know what all the veterans and pro's out there mean when they say it's 90% mental. It really is. I have never been on a run where I had to mentally push myself to keep going like this one. I started off running the first mile at like a 6:49 pace I believe. Second one was right around 7 minutes. I was trying to get my HR down because it was around 168 and I slowed down some but it didn't feel right to be going that slow so I just went with it for the time being. They had water/aid stations every mile which was a life saver! I took in water at every station and took Gatorade twice. When you got off the main highway/road onto the north bound road it turned to gravel with some decent hills! Also while on this road and running north it was hot and you couldn't feel the breeze at all. The sun came out right before the bike was done and it really started to get humid out. Either way I made it back towards the transition area and saw my sister starting her first lap of the run. We gave each other a high five and off she went. My goal was to catch her on the my second lap. Once I was about 1.75 miles into the second lap the 5th place guy passed me finally. He was running great! I told him good job but it might have came out as "asldf blob". I was no longer sweating at this point and was really digging down deep into the pain cave to continue running. Good thing I did. The guy who had been in second on the bike and the first to pass me was walking up ahead. I passed him and was back in fourth. Woot! At the 10.1 mile aid station I decided I needed to walk through it so I did. I took about three glasses of water and splashed some water and drank some. I started running again and never stopped again. With about two miles to go I finally caught my sister who was having a hard time with it. She was walking up a hill and I told her just to keep going and she said awesome job little brother so I kept on going! I got an adrenaline boost with about 1.5 miles to go and brought it home pretty good I think. Like I said this was by far the hardest thing I have ever done in my life so far but I think if I would have drank more on the bike I would have had a much better run experience. IM Wisconsin here I come...

Drink more on the bike and have my Nathan water bottle loaded up with some extra salt tablets as well. I never cramped up though!

Had to dump a whole bottle of water on myself after crossing the line I was so hot! Drank another and then had some Gatorade. Eventually I ate a couple sandwiches they were providing and waited for my sister to finish. I was fourth overall though and was stoked!


Not drinking enough on the bike I think. Maybe even to hard on the bike but I think it was more of a hydration issue than anything else.


They put on one hell of a race here. The amount of volunteers that were there was awesome. They had two different aid stations on the bike course and then every mile of the run. They announce your' name and where you are from when you cross the line which was cool. Got to meet trigal38 who came over and talked to me a couple minutes after I crossed. Hi Dina! Otherwise I thought that I would definitely come back and do this course again. It has a very deceiving run course after a flat bike but don't let it fool you! Thanks to my wife, kiddo, and brother-in-law for supporting myself and the sister through this race!